LiTHOS announces submission of $30M grant to U.S. Department of Energy
by CM Staff
LiTHOS' patent-pending AcQUA™ technology eliminates the need for evaporation ponds - an environmentally damaging and water-intensive step in the lithium extraction process.
VANCOUVER — LiTHOS Group Ltd. announces that its wholly-owned subsidiary Aqueous Resources LLC submitted its complete application for $30 million to the US Department of Energy under Funding Opportunity Announcement DE-FOA-0003105. Awards are anticipated to be announced in May 2024.
They are reportedly trying to become a leader in economically efficient, sustainable lithium production. LiTHOS’ patent-pending AcQUA™ technology eliminates the need for evaporation ponds – an environmentally damaging and water-intensive step in the lithium extraction process. AcQUA™ technology helps resource owners unlock higher yields more quickly from continental brine lithium resources at a substantially lower cost.
Lithium is now among one of the world’s most in-demand metals due to aggressive ambitious electrification efforts to limit CO2 emissions. This global demand is underpinned by the adoption of EV’s and the installation of hundreds of gigawatts of intermittent solar power generation capacity requiring partial battery storage solutions.
The Company previously disclosed its pre-qualified status in September 2023 and has now finalized its application for up to USD $30 Million under Area of Interest (“AOI”) 1B Phase II from the DOE funding opportunity DE-FOA-0003105 announced on September 6, 2023. This provides up to $30 million of total grant funding per awardee to support pilot scale facility development and construction of lithium hydroxide processing plants to produce and refine critical minerals and materials in the United States. This directly aligns with the vision and goals previously set out in the Company’s September 6, 2023, announcement and January 16, 2024, announcement that its Bessemer, Alabama processing complex is fully operational and permitted to produce pilot scale lithium hydroxide.
“We are excited to extend and expand our relationship with the US Department of Energy and use this additional grant funding to accelerate pilot scale production of Lithium hydroxide from the Bessemer, Alabama complex,” said Scott Taylor, Chief Executive Officer. “The requirement for the Bessemer complex was driven by substantial incoming, unsolicited customer demand for bespoke conditioning and pre-treatment processing prior to Direct Lithium Extraction (“DLE”). We now can deliver near real-time ICP fluid sampling results for visiting customers to validate and verify our AcQUA™ technology on their reservoir brines. The existing permits allow us to seamlessly extend our pre-treatment processing flowsheets to DLE and all the way through polishing and purification of battery grade lithium. We are grateful for the support we received from the Senate, Congress, the University of Alabama, and the City of Bessemer.”
